Search the Dictionary

The military officer who commands a company, troop, or battery, or who has the rank entitling him to do so though he may be employed on other service.

Power, or command, over a certain district; chieftainship. [Obs.]

The condition, rank, post, or authority of a captain or chief commander. "To take the captainship." Shak.

a small vessel with broad bows, high, narrow poop, four masts, and lateen sails. Columbus commanded three caravels on his great voyage.

He exerted himself to win by indulgence and caresses the hearts of all who were under his command. Macaulay.

roker carries stock for a customer; to carry a life insurance. Carry arms (Mil. Drill), a command of the Manual of Arms directing the soldier to hold his piece in the right hand, the barrel resting against the hollow of the shoulder in a nearly perpendicular position. In this position the soldier is said to stand, and…

A military officer who commanded a minor division of the Roman army; a captain of a century. A centurion of the hand called the Italian band. Acts x. 1.

One of sixty companies into which a legion of the army was divided. It was Commanded by a centurion. Century plant (Bot.), the Agave Americana, formerly supposed to flower but once in a century; - - hence the name. See Agave. -- The Magdeburg Centuries, an ecclesiastical history of the first thirteen centuries, arrang…

labor. Sir J. Hayward. Cessation of arms (Mil.), an armistice, or truce, agreed to by the commanders of armies, to give time for a capitulation, or for other purposes.

To lay on or impose, as a task, duty, or trust; to command, instruct, or exhort with authority; to enjoin; to urge earnestly; as, to charge a jury; to charge the clergy of a diocese; to charge an agent. Moses . . . charged you to love the Lord your God. Josh. xxii. 5. Cromwell, I charge thee, fing away ambition. Shak.…

The head or leader of any body of men; a commander, as of an army; a head man, as of a tribe, clan, or family; a person in authority who directs the work of others; the pricipal actio or agent.

A captain, leader, or commander; a chief; the head of a troop, army, or clan.

The commander or chief of a thousand men.

ollapse, followed by death, or by a stage of reaction of fever. -- Cholera bacillus. See Comma bacillus. -- Cholera infantum, a dangerous summer disease, of infants, caused by hot weather, bad air, or poor milk, and especially fatal in large cities. -- Cholera morbus, a disease characterized by vomiting and purging,…

Chief or commander; in Spanish literature, a title of Ruy Diaz, Count of Bivar, a champion of Christianity and of the old Spanish royalty, in the 11th century.

A fortress in or near a fortified city, commanding the city and fortifications, and intended as a final point of defense. Syn. - Stronghold. See Fortress.

mechanical. Their services are clocklike, to be set Blackward and vorward at their lord's command. B. Jonson.

r allow to fall, into confusion. To club a battalion implies a temporary inability in the commanding officer to restore any given body of men to their natural front in line or column. Farrow.

art of the quarterdeck, usually occupied by the captain. [Written also couch.] [Obs.] The commanders came on board and the council sat in the coach. Pepys.

. Proofs of the most cogent description. Tyndall. The tongue whose strains were cogent as commands, Revered at home, and felt in foreign lands. Cowper.